


contagion (a landscape of twilight and thorns)

by crookedspoon



Series: Tonight, No Poetry Will Serve [14]
Category: Flashpoint (Comics), Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
Genre: F/F, Wordcount: 250
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-20 16:05:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4793780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedspoon/pseuds/crookedspoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's blood that leads her to the Joker, and madness that binds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	contagion (a landscape of twilight and thorns)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elastiqueheart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elastiqueheart/gifts).



> For #4 "bathing" at femslash100's drabble cycle: kinks, "Child Endangerment" at genprompt_bingo round 8, and El, who introduced me to Martha!Joker.
> 
> Okay, I haven't found a source that confirms Yo-Yo actually is Harley, but that won't stop me from accepting it as my headcanon anyway. :D

It's always blood that leads her to the Joker. Like inkblots on a map, it forms a trail on the dusty floorboards of their latest funhouse. 

Yo-Yo finds her in the tub – suit, gloves, shoes, and all. She's shaking, with mirth rather than pain.

It's contagious. Yo-Yo giggles, discarding boots and gloves. Funny to think that after years of studying her, Yo-Yo would end up as her confidante. True, she'd imagined a more clinical setting, but therapy sessions with the Joker were bogus anyway.

Now this, being allowed to strip her down, draw a scalding bath, and climb in behind her, this is the kind of intimacy she never could've dreamed of at Arkham.

"Did you ever want children, Yo-Yo?" 

Yo-Yo's knees jerk against Joker's sides."With you?" she stammers. A flash of heat makes her skin prickle.

"Isn't it crazy to raise a child in Gotham?"

Loss of a child, the defining issue. How disenchanting it had been to uncover this mundane origin. Mother turned mad. 

"By extension," Yo-Yo muses, cursing her own stupidity. The soap she's working into Joker's blood-caked hair is slowly turning pink. "I mean, staying in Gotham's crazy enough."

In the end, whatever had provoked this woman to snap mattered little in comparison to her mind's scintillating transformation.

"No one should be raising children here."

"It's irresponsible, isn't it?" Yo-Yo agrees, wondering if she's proposing to murder parents for this, as punishment. Or children, as an act of revenge. 

Everyone should suffer like she did.

**Author's Note:**

> The line in parentheses in the title is from "I Dream I'm the Death of Orpheus" by Adrienne Rich.
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you like, you can check out my [genprompt_bingo cards](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pmKNKLmHO5l6z8G8GJl7R5Gc64TjhecRzZQDJK98TTE/edit?usp=sharing) and suggest something for the unfilled prompts. Or, if that list is too long and distracting for you (it is for me), consider using this [prompt generator](http://generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=12969). :)


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